


a year

by yjace



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Canon-Typical Violence, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, First Kiss, Friendship, Homophobia, M/M, Other, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-31 00:53:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8556205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yjace/pseuds/yjace
Summary: for a year of my lifemaybe the happiest year of my lifebut then came the fear & the fightsand certain things that happen the darkthat did not appear in the light.





	1. Chapter 1

It’s been a year.

A difficult year, mind you. An underwhelming, mind-numbing, totally shitty year. Every month competed with that one earth-shattering month when the earth failed to shatter that occurred only a month previous. Zuko’s favorite part of every day was waking up and forgetting where he was, what he’s done, and what he’s conquered—ultimately ruined by remembering. 

“I don’t even know how I’m still walking and talking and breathing and thinking and everything, at least without a total pulmonary embolism. I’m 98% sure that it’s just, literally, adrenaline, but the adrenaline, again, is sort of stunting my proactive thinking.”

Azula gave him a pained look, almost sympathetic, mostly annoyed. “What in the hell are you talking about, Zuko, real question,” she sighed, looking up from her coffee.

“This place, this new school, new city, new people,” Zuko grumbled into his cereal, putting down his spoon and looking up as his sister. “How are you not upset by this even a little bit.”

She shrugged, taking a sip, considering what he asked her. “I am, I just don’t feel the need to vocalize it to the world, because frankly, it doesn’t care,” she smiled. “But you’re nervous... though you have no reason to be, rationalize it. And get over it.”

Azula finished her cup, washed it, and set it in the sink, letting it drain. “C’mon”

 

“Whatchya listening to?”

“Joey Pecoaro,” Zuko mumbled. “It relaxes me.”

“You’re gonna need to up the decibels a little bit if you wanna relax someone as uptight as yourself.”

“Be assured that if I had not just woken up like a minute ago, I would be in uproarious laughter over your overwhelming comedic genius.”

“Ouch. Stabbing’s enough, Zuko, no need to twist the knife.” Ty Lee leaned over Zuko to steal one of his earbuds“What’s this, then? Warm? Classic. Not what I’d assume, but certainly not a horrible choice.”

“Elated to receive your approval.”

“Anytime, sweet cheeks,” she shot him a wink, and he’s smiling, incapable of staying even little upset with her. It had been years since he and Azula’s gang all went to school together. And even though Mai and Ty Lee were really her friends, it didn’t stop them from all getting along. In fact, he harboured quite the crush on Mai for years. Zuko had to drop it once his family moved across nearly the entire country. Now they were back, just as he had hardly settled into his old school. The consecutive moves had began to take a toll on him, unsure how many more he could take at this point. He was 16 now, planning on moving in with his uncle soon enough. Then no more moving and carving out a life for himself every other year.

 

It was back to classes. Routine. Rituals. And what was the point in the end really? Normally he could find that point, look at the normalcy and convince himself easily enough that it’s just as it should be. But it was harder. Almost like the whole world was dragging it’s feet. Not that it mattered. The feeling will go away soon enough. Just like it always does. Or at least he’d forget there’s any other way to feel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first chapter is an into, setting the story up lmao they will never be this short i promise


	2. Chapter 2

Zuko waved Ty Lee a ‘see you later’ and stepped out of the bus, blinking at the school yard and students. It was a nice morning really, sunny and a little brisk, grass wet, the sky nearly clear, and wind light. Even though he could dress himself, Azula didn’t let him leave the house that morning without a jacket, a nice red bomber jacket she pushed him to buy the last time they were out together in the city. “The fire patch is a little much, Azula,” Zuko frowned at it, appreciating it’s style but finding the little symbol on the right side of his chest a bit ‘37 pieces flair’ unnecessary. “You mean it’s not boring?” She smoothed her hands down his shoulders, examining it with a final tilt of her head. “You’re getting this.”

He shoved his hands deep into his pockets, staring at his feet as he walked.

It wasn’t that he was ashamed of it, in fact he would die before he would allow anyone to make him feel apologetic for his scar. It was the way he was now due to the careful treatment he faced because of it, complete with the open gaping, pity and comments. Zuko blamed all of it. His personality became fiery. Zuko felt he was constantly on edge, ready for the assault of questions, waiting for the looks. The city sharpened his edges, and he doubted this small community would soften them. Honestly, he was never intentionally rude, hurting people’s feelings wasn’t his favorite thing in the world. But he had grown to not care if he shut people down hard. ‘I’m not your fucking therapist or teacher, quit asking me this shit because I don’t feel like educating you’ he recalled telling a kid his age in elementary school, Zuko sitting in the office as a result, refusing to apologize until the threat of a call to his father arose. Zuko huffed, brought his head a little higher and walked a little faster.

First class, English. He smiled a bit. An ok start to his day.

Zuko liked English. He liked reading and writing. And he was good at it.

Before reaching the west side of the school, he walks past a group of kids. A tall tan boy, appearing no older than him, spotted him, and their eyes met. The boy’s smile was wide and white, the stick of a sucker tight between his teeth. Zuko wished he had been walking faster.

“Hey,” the boy called, his friends looked over at him. “You’re new.”

Zuko stopped but didn’t respond, holding the gaze. The knife-sharp eyes looked right back. Or maybe he was just feeling confrontational that day.  
“Where’r you from?”

“What’s it to you?”

One of the boy’s friends head snap up. “Who’s this kid, Jet?”

“Kick his ass,” Zuko heard one of them say.

And something sparks under his skin, he can feel it catch in the air.

“Yeah, Jet, kick his ass.”

God, he really could. But ‘Jet’ doesn’t budge. Just smiles at him. Zuko moves on. This school was weird.

English was over before he knew it, followed in quick succession by History, Math, and Politics with Mai, Zuko leaving class practically glowing to have a class with someone he knew. As it turned out, he also had lunch with her, along with Azula and Ty Lee. Zuko was torn between feeling grateful he wasn’t going to be eating alone on his first day of school, and upset that his only friends so far was his sister and her besties. 

“So, make any new friends yet?” Azula asked, looking at him with a familiar smugness that Zuko wasn’t in the mood for.

“No.”

“No?” Ty Lee pouted. 

Zuko stabbed the calzone on his tray.

“Any of you guys seen those weird siblings around?” Mai asked, handing her drink to Zuko to open.

“Azula and Zuko?” Ty Lee smiled. Mai gave a little grin. Azula slapped her shoulder.

Mai shook her head, sipping her tea. “No, the ones I’m talking about have friends. Sister’s annoyingly nice and the brother’s just annoying. And lo and behold, I have like three classes with them,” she grumbled.

“That’s nothing compared to this Jet guy I ran into this morning,” Zuko scoffed, shaking his head.

“Jet?”

“Oh yeah, total jerk off. His friends were the real crazy ones though, just wanted to start something because they had nothing better to do, I guess.”

Ty Lee smiled, “I think I know who you’re talking about, tall and hot right?”

Zuko’s ears burned. “How am I supposed to know?’

The conversation shifted, easing naturally into academics and schedules and the useless debate over whether science or math was more of a pain in the ass. Zuko’s already started to tune it out. He barely caught Mai saying something about how having to focus for that long should be illegal. He didn’t really hear her properly. Any of them really. They felt further away than they should.

It wasn’t so bad, was it? All he had to do was focus for the few periods left in the day. Then it was to his uncle’s tea shop. Work always cleared his brain right out. Then sleep, and the grey would be a day behind him.

Zuko zoned out as the last hours flew by and practically jumped out his chair when the final bell rang. He looked forward to time with his uncle, cherished it more than anything else. Zuko knew there was something positive in there every time, that must be why... His brain tried to remember for a minute where they left off before giving up with a sigh. Weird day.

Suddenly, it didn’t matter what his mind thinking, it had to immediately catch up to what his body was doing. On the ground, aching, throbbing. Zuko sat up, grabbing the back of his head, spinning, hand not moving from his skull. He was met with the sight of a kid. Young. He blinked at him. Really young. He couldn’t have been more than thirteen. Zuko noted the gym scooter he toppled over, and then the kid again. All his brain could come up with was soft. Big warm eyes, round face, closely shaved hair that he could tell would be brown if grown out, and a gaze so open that he felt an immediate anger bloom deep in his stomach. Back to bristling. 

“What the hell?”

He paused a moment, before jumping to his feet, picking up the scooter and offering a hand to Zuko. “Holy smokes, are you ok? Did I hurt you? Ah, geez, of course I did, totally my fault!” 

For a minute Zuko forgot that he was in any pain at all, completely taken aback by this attitude. More openness. It only annoyed him further. He pushed the kid’s hand away. Zuko picked himself up, the height difference he saw surprising him.

He wanted to be angry, he wanted to punch this kid square in the face. Zuko just stood there confused instead.

“What were you doing?” he nodded to the board in his hands.

He looked at it and smiled apologetically. “Scooter races. I think I won,” he glanced behind Zuko. More students. But they looked to be his age. He wondered what they were doing with this kid.

“Why would you be doing that in the middle of the hallway?” Zuko asked heatedly, looking back down at him. “Why are you even here? Aren’t you too young to be playing around in a high school?”

All Zuko got was a curious look. And, “I’m 17.”

Before another word was exchanged between them, one of his friends stepped in. She had striking features, unlike the boy, she was darker and taller, eyes a stunning blue, and reminded Zuko of Mei in the sense that she was intimidating. She folded her arms across her chest. “What about you? I haven’t seen you around here before…”

The kid glanced past her, positively delighted it seemed. “Are you Zuko?”

Zuko eyed him, the girl, then back to the boy, nodding. “Why?”

“I’ve heard about you! New in town,” he said, regarding his friends. “Wow, he’s cuter than I heard he would be.”

Zuko scowled, turning to leave immediately. Fast. His cheeks felt hotter than he could recall them feeling in a long time.

“I’m Aang by the way!” He heard the kid call after him

He hated this school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote this @ 12 am bye


	3. Chapter 3

People were funny when it came to their tea.

Zuko had learned over the past few years that people took pride in having their own tea order. Some people like to think that the low-fat-to-soy ratio in their tea reveals something about the kind of person they are; other people just look for any way to set themselves apart from the crowd, to say I’m special. It was a compulsive need, shared by many, and it was ultimately a load.

Tea was tea, and the only time tea said anything about who you were was when you act like a dick while ordering.

Fucking tea, man. How had that become his life all those years ago?

Well, there was a simple enough answer for that: his uncle owned the Jasmine Dragon. And it was his baby, his dream for a good half of his life and at the age of 10, Zuko knew helping his uncle care for it would be an experience he would hate to have missed out on.

Though he spent most of his time at school, Zuko filled his breaks by picking up shifts at his uncle’s shop. Wintertime was always especially busy—cold weather and warm drinks were a good mix for business. But it had been years since he had last stepped foot into the shop. Immediately he noticed the shop was understaffed, and Zuko’s looking at a forty-hour week, no question.

Then he saw Iroh across the room and his heart swelled. Years, only a few, of course feeling like a billion seeing him now. 

“Uncle!” Zuko saw him spin around and a warm smile break out across his uncle’s face. When he was pulled into a hug, he realized how affection starved he had been for this.

“Zuko,” Iroh pulled him back by his shoulders, taking a look at his nephew. “Look at you! Handsomer than I remember,” he said in earnest with a laugh. Zuko beamed, looking down at his shoes. “Here, sit, I’ll grab us some drinks, I’m just about done serving these nice folks.”

A few minutes passed and they fell into easy conversation. They talked for a good hour and a half, nearly uninterrupted. By the time the guests had cleared out, with plenty of times before the shop closed, they were on their second pot of tea, uncle beginning to prep the third.

“I haven’t even thought to ask, but how’s business been lately? Without any help I mean.” 

Iroh set down his cup, thinking. “Not as hard as one might expect, it obviously comes with it’s challenges, but every day is good fun. Besides, I have the best customers, all very kind and easy to make conversation with.” Zuko smiled.

“I wouldn’t expect any other answer from you, uncle.”

He stood up, walked over to the kitchen and grabbed an apron. “Lemme see if I still remember how to do this,” Zuko said, offering to finish making their third pot, when he heard a chime of bells on the door as it opened. He tried to look, catch a glimpse of the people who had just stepped in, but couldn’t see past the low hanging curtains separating him from the counter. He heard his uncle yell to him. “I’ll clean up our table, would you mind helping these folks?”

Zuko nodded to himself, and “Right away.” He tied up the apron strings as he walked over to the till, only to look up when he finished to see the kid, dumb friends and all. His stupidly bright face lit up further when he recognized Zuko.

“New guy!”

“Don’t call me that,” he frowned.

He grinned, and said seemingly apologetic, “Sorry, Zuko, I forgot you’re name for a second, I’ll be honest, I’m really bad with those. But hey, I’m good at remembering faces! Especially with one like yours.” The kid’s tone was confusing, he couldn’t tell if he meant that as a compliment or if he was mocking him.

“Suppose I could just call you annoying bald kid by that logic.” 

Zuko was surprised to hear him laugh, even more surprised at how young it sounded. He insults him, and the kid laughs right back at him, with, like, a sparkle of laughter. Like true genuine youthful amusement. He pissed off Zuko so much.

It was also ridiculous the way the rest of the shop seemed to fade out for just a second and then come back clearer and louder and brighter. 

Zuko looked down at the counter in self-defense.

“Are you going to order something today?” He scowled.

He noticed the kid’s tall girl friend shoot him a sharp look, Zuko, however, was all too tired to care. Another guy, who looked a lot like her only more lanky and taller, nudged her, shaking his head like he was calling her off or something. Weird dynamic in the group.

“Oh yeah, Jasmine please,” the kid smiled. The rest of the group ordered one by one, while Zuko absently noted their appearance and preference. 

Dark tall girl, Malaysia Chai. Taller looking doofus, Osmanthus. Short dark haired girl, Pu Erh Dante. Finally, some sporty looking chick, Lapsang Souchong.

And of course, each order was time consuming and predictably frustrating. Zuko keyed it in with sharp punches, and didn’t bother asking their names, just scribbled them down on their cubs and collected their payments quickly. The tall boy began to mutter something about customer service, but went quiet with Zuko’s eyes flashed upwards in a glare.

Once everything was made and delivered to their table, they all looked suspiciously settled, and Zuko was further confused when he glanced over at the clock. They were closing in less than 10 minutes. Before he could remind them, his uncle stepped out of the kitchen. “Ah, Zuko, I see you’ve met my favorite regulars.” He looked pleased.

“What?” Zuko laughed weakly. 

“Kid, this if my nephew I’ve been telling you all about!” And they all looked just as confused as Zuko felt. The tall boy spoke up, “This is the same nephew? You sure?”

Zuko decided he was going to pretend like he didn’t just hear that. “Regulars?” Iroh nodded. “Absolutely, come everyday and even help clean up after hours.”

He couldn’t quiet hear the rest of the exchanges that were spoken, something about a ‘disappointing reveal’ and ‘really nice kid once you get to know him’. Zuko did recognize however that this was most likely the hell that would ensue every day after school for the rest of the year. Fan-fucking-tastic. 

Amidst the clamour of the student’s and his uncle, Zuko met eyes with the weird short 17 year old, who smiled gently at him. He hated this kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kms done with finals now, thx for being patient w me if you've stuck around hopefully I'll find more time to get to writing. btw, thank FantomeKisses for giving me any incentive at all to keep working on this, I'm rlly bad @ seeing things through that I start so encouragement was cool


	4. update

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> :)

hey i'm thinking i might pick this story back up. sorry but i write stories for myself & i know this is for ppl to read and im sure there are a few who waited for more, so thx if u did. i just write at my own pace dude


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